The Pentagon’s point man for the Congressionally directed conversion of civilian employees from the National Security Personnel System said last week he expected the task to be done a year ahead of schedule for the majority of civilians. The Defense Department announced last month the appointment of John James Jr. to lead the effort to move more than 200,000 employees from NSPS back to the old General Schedule system by January 2012 as Congress directed in the 2010 defense authorization act. James said he is “committed to ensure … that employees experience no loss of, or decrease in, pay upon conversion.”
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
